The following is a market overview of many NAS (Network attached storage)-related products, mainly for the SoHo market and for small businesses. The products differ in their nature, not all of them are comparable or fit into the same category. I think, customers are smart and will decide for themselves which products are more or less appropriate for their specific use case. I left out solutions that do not have either Ethernet (RJ-45 jack) or WLAN capabilities. All products are based on TCP/IP (exception: Ximeta NetDisk, see hint).

While I invest quite some effort to collect and maintain the facts on this page, I am sure, you will also find that there are bugs and false information. Prices change rapidly, all the ones I mention should only serve as some raw estimate. You are a smart shopper, please use some price search engine to find most uptodate prices.

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The same is true for firmware. Newer firmware releases might add, change or even drop some of the mentioned features. Please double-check with you vendor before making any decision. Finally, NAS makers continually make changes to the hardware, esp. changing board layout, CPUs, RAM and ROM size. In many cases they do not even promote these changes and sell the product with the same name. Keep your eyes open if you rely on hardware specifics.

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'''Important! Firmware does make a difference!'''

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All NAS makers have to make a balance between cheap customer prices and good product support. Especially firmware, that is stable and updated with the latest features at the same time is a cost factor on the manufacturer's bill when a product line was sold and the next generation enters the market.

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How can you find out about the support level of a particular manufacturer? As an indicator, simply look at their web site, and evaluate how they have handled this in the past. Do they have uptodate firmware and manuals for their older products?

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In some cases, enthusiasts make use of the sources of firmware, and make their own (often free) releases with more knowledge and time, than the original under-paid firmware programmers had. So, see whether some group has already made alternative firmware that enjoyed considerably more care than the manufacturer's version. But also stay with the principle: "Never touch a running NAS, aaah, a running system." Do not update firmware simply for fun.

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'''Please send comments'''

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I am very glad about every user comment, or hints to other products. Please send such information to [mailto:ralf.koenig@informatik.tu-chemnitz.de ralf.koenig@informatik.tu-chemnitz.de] .

** the barrier could be either administrative or (more likely) caused by the (comparatively slow) chipset

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* user forum: http://forum.tuxbox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=36023

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=Claxan, IntelliNet, IOGEAR and Tritton: Based on same design=

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The following devices by Claxan, IntelliNet, IOGEAR and Tritton are all based on the same ODM design. The devices still differ in firmware, RAM and ROM sizes, and support, which can make a real difference in every-day use. There are many more companies, that resell these products with their own names, search for the IntelliNet numbers (522991 and 522342) to find them.

Ximeta has a different approach than the other systems. "NDAS" (Network ''Directly'' Attached Storage) instead of NAS (Network Attached Storage). The devices operate on Layer 2 (Ethernet) instead of Layer 3 and up (TCP/IP). It uses a protocoll called LPX (Lean Packet Exchange) on level 3 and up of the OSI stack.

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This way, the hard disk looks similar (but not equal) to a locally attached SCSI hard disk drive.

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Other vendors, such as Freecom have licensed the technology and make their own stuff based on this concept.

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; Advantages

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* Less resource-intensive -> considerably faster than current NAS on embedded systems

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* Block-level access instead of file level access

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Disadvantages:

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* non-routable (can only be accessed from local subnet, needs server PC to access storage from Internet)

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* drivers needed on the clients

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* direct FTP, SMB, or NFS does NOT work (needs server PC)

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* current firmware has problems with locking (multiple users write on the same file -> corruption can occur)

this seems to be the original maker, http://www.cellvision.net/pdf/NFS-101U.pdf

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| class="twikiFirstCol" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" | NAS-USBHD

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| bgcolor="#FFFFFF" | Trendnet

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| bgcolor="#FFFFFF" | TS-U100

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http://www.trendnet.com/products/TS-U100.htm

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| class="twikiFirstCol" bgcolor="#FFFFCC" | NAS-USBHD

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| bgcolor="#FFFFCC" | Sitecom

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| bgcolor="#FFFFCC" | LN-350

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http://www.sitecom.com/products_info.php?product_id=341&grp_id=5

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| class="twikiFirstCol" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" | USB print servers

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| bgcolor="#FFFFFF" | similar to other cheaper broadband routers (such as SWEEX LB000021), that are equipped with USB ports to function as print servers, a simple firmware upgrade would make them NAS adapters